Very Early Memories

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I cannot say I remember much of anything before age 5. I was told later that I was also non-verbal until age 4 - 4.5 but I don't remember being so.

I have asked a number of people this very question and most of them have said they remember back to about age 2 or 3. Most all of these people were NT so I have come to consider poor early childhood memory a facet of autism. Of course we are different from each other so some of us will still be able to remember back to age 2 or 3.

One of my earliest memories is sitting in a high chair at my grandparents' house, eating Neapolitan ice cream while watching the Peanuts Christmas special on a portable TV. I guess I was around two at the time.

Most people I know have earliest memories at 3-5 years old. My earliest memories are at age 3, and maybe one or two vague 1-second memories of before I was 3.

I have an autobiographical memory, so I have lots of very vivid memories of my childhood from about 5 onwards, not only as a clear picture in my mind but also the "mood" of the time.

I've actually made a playlist on my phone of all different songs that remind me of my life from as earliest as I can remember, right upto last year. So for example the songs that remind me of when I was 3 or 4 are the first ones on the playlist, you get the idea. And it's very accurate.

I'm almost the same Joe. I can tell you what happened like an autobiography, and could make a 1,000 song playlist of every different "chapter" in my life. I can smell and hear and feel the memories emotionally but I just can't see them the way you do. I can remember brief flashes, or else photos and home movies fill in the blanks. Even now, my short term memory is limited in its visual scope. It's like I've lived all in my head but not in my eyes.

I'm curious what your 3-4 year old songs were?

I remember this blonde boy at primary school who used to chase the girls and try to kiss them. I remember him chasing me and me (having fun) running and screaming, "Help!!". Then I would keep going near him again. My best friend later dated him.

I remember I had a neighbour who I hated because he used to tease me all the time. He once shouted out, "LOVE!" to get my attention and everybody laughed!

I remember my mum had a German friend and his family came over to play. I think I was about 8 at the time. We enjoyed playing together and the language barrier didn't get in the way at all.

I had a friend at school who came over to mine and we were playing hide-and-seek. He hid in a bin and got green stuff on his bottom, and my mum had to brush it off. Much later on he became a bit of a male slag and was very popular amongst the ladies. I've sometimes wondered if I should have told the story of him above on Facebook.

I have some memories from when I was 2. I know that's how old I was, because I know that these memories are from when my family and I lived on a military base in Los Angeles. I was born in LA and we moved away from there about 3-4 months before my third birthday, so I definitely wasn't older than 2 1/2 in these memories.

-I remember once hearing a loud noise outside and being upset/scared by it. It was my dad using either a lawnmower or a weed eater, but of course I didn't know that. I remember hiding in the bathroom to get away from the noise and kind of crouching in the space in between the toilet and the bathtub. I vaguely remember my dad finding me in there later and just being like, "what are you doing in here?"

-On the base that we lived on, there was a playground for the kids. It was filled with sand rather than mulch. I have a vague memory of being there with my older brother and wiping sand off of the swings so that we could get on them.

-I remember finding an inner tube that was my brother's and just laying down in the hole in the middle of it. I remember my brother wasn't home at the time (most likely at school or playing at a friend's house) and I was glad he wasn't because I thought he'd be mad if he saw me touching his stuff. My mom actually took a picture of me laying in it with my legs hanging out and we still have that picture now.

-I remember having a meltdown once on some sort of boat ride. My mom remembers me having a meltdown while we were on a boat in San Francisco (I guess we had driven up there to spend the day there) going under the Golden Gate Bridge, so perhaps that's what I'm remembering as well. I guess I had been having a rough day and had been crying/having meltdowns a lot, because I remember that before we went on the boat, I was telling my mom that I wasn't going to scream/cry this time. And then I just found myself falling on the floor crying once we were on the boat. Again, I don't remember why (maybe I was just overwhelmed/overstimulated) but I can remember, even at that age, being kind of upset with myself and thinking, "ugh, why am I doing this? I know I shouldn't be but I can't help it!"

-I remember when we went to Florida to visit my grandparents for Christmas. I know that this was when we lived in California because we flew on a plane. The states that my dad was stationed in after California were close enough to Florida to where we could drive there in 1 or 2 days, so we never flew there again after leaving CA. Anyway, I can remember being in my crib before we went and my mom telling me that we were going on a trip soon. I sort of remember being on the plane, and my mom telling me to look out the window because we were almost there (probably landing). I can vaguely remember sitting at the table with all the extended family having Christmas dinner. I remember at one point I was trying to touch a light socket in the wall, and my aunt was telling me not to do that. These memories may actually be my very earliest, since my birthday is in November and this had to be the Christmas right after I turned two. Some of the other memories I mentioned above may have been a few months after this.

Oh yes, I personally demonstrate phenomenal long-term memory abilities. This is fairly common with AS/HFA.

My possible first memory: Being out in our front-yard in the mid-1960s - with memories of the then popular R&B, Soul, and Pop music mix genre e.g., the group Martha & the Vandellas songs.

I have tons of memories. It's hard to sort out which ones are my earliest ones though, since they don't exactly have a date stamp on them. Some contexts give me clues though.

1. I have many memories of my mother washing me in the sink. I actually particularly remember being startled one day when I realized I couldn't sit in the sink without bending my knees anymore. I imagine I can't have been more than 2 years old. It is very small sink when I look at it now.

2. I also remember holding onto the seat of our living room couch to steady myself while I tried to walk around the room. The seat of the couch I was grabbing onto was about my chin height, and I remember seeing my arms outstretched in front of my face, and the itchy feel of the off-white textured fabric. I remember looking around the room for furniture to grab onto next that would help me get to where my toy was sitting on the ground at the other side of the room. I now understand that this behavior is called "cruising," and is typical for 9 to 12 month-olds. I have other memories of trying to do this at a party once and getting picked up a lot. I got really frustrated and cried. I remember the sound of people's voices but not what they were saying.

I've got many early memories from my childhood that I still remember clearly while some I have forgotten because I tend to have a very mixed memory at times. I can still remember living at my old home when I was a baby/toddler, going on holiday back then, getting up to various activities and enjoying my life with my family. I can remember them thanks to old photos and video recordings of when I was younger because they help me remember my memories better

I have memories of when my dad would watch me when my mom was at work, he would often put me in this little orange plastic rocking chair and we'd watch TV, often old 50's and 60's sitcom reruns, classic Doctor Who, and Star Trek. Sometimes football if it was football season. I also remember him bringing me into his shop when I was a little older (maybe 3 or 4) and I'd play with his key collection while he'd play classic rock on the radio and work.

I also remember him taking me to the local pet store that isn't here anymore to "feed the fishies" because they had a pond with large fish and a vending machine where you could get fish food to feed them. It was my favorite thing to do.